After dismissing them for the last four years, Iain Duncan Smith says that Brexit now needs to hear from the experts to make it a success.

In the latest strategy from the Leavers, civil servants appear to be getting the blame for Brexit's potential to go terribly wrong.

Iain Duncan Smith is one of the leading pro-Brexit voices who now claims that the negotiating team are the wrong ones to secure satisfactory deals with the EU and US.

He told 5 Live Politics: "I think there are problems ahead for the UK.

"One of them is the quality of the people now working on this. If you haven't negotiated for 40 years you need to reach out to all those people that are involved in negotiations, really good transactional lawyers that exist in the City of London. Proper trade economists. We've got very good ones at the moment but we need to bring them in from outside."

The former Tory leader explained that expertise from outside the civil service might now be needed to help battle with the European Union's skilled negotiators.

The source that led me to above article also mentioned that BoJo is now not only dealing with the interests of 27 European nations and their pooled interest as the EU but with all those other countries worldwide that need to be taken care of in new trade negotiations, something that was included in the EU package.

Boris Johnson has threatened to walk away from Brexit talks in June if significant progress has not been made.

The prime minister has also rejected European demands to submit to independent oversight of Britain’s laws. In a hardening of the government’s position, senior officials said that he would not allow disputes over the UK’s future employment, environmental and state aid rules to go to binding arbitration in a free trade deal.

Mr Johnson had previously rejected Brussels’ proposals to follow existing EU rules after Brexit, but insisted that Britain would retain high standards.

The tougher stance will exacerbate fears in Europe that “populists” in the government are winning the prime minister over to collapsing the talks and blaming Brussels.

ONE IN SEVEN FIRMS TO QUIT UK IN WAKE OF BREXIT?February 12, 2020 at 9:25 am Posted by: Simon Angear

One in seven UK businesses is considering moving its HQ overseas into another European country in the wake of Brexit, according to a new survey.

Global software consultancy ThoughtWorks has polled more than 1,000 British businesses on their post-Brexit plans, and the results show more than three quarters are drawing up new growth plans in the wake of the UK’s departure from the EU.

And while 18% are aiming to expand into new overseas markets, around 14% intend to quit the country – a number which increases to 20% in key areas.

Interestingly, the study on 1,026 businesses also discovered that there were almost as many businesses planning to expand abroad (18%) as there were enterprises focusing more on the domestic market (23%).

The difference came down to technology. Businesses making the most of their tech assets were those most likely to be looking at overseas expansion (23%).

Businesses that were improving their use of technology, but were some way behind the market leaders, were most likely to focus on attempting to grow their market in the UK (25%).

I still cannot believe that an Island nation that once rose to world power based on its (somewhat colonialist but still) trade with overseas lands decided to just say "phuck it, we don't need to have any trade deals".

Do these knutsacks think they can send the Royal Navy out and retake lost colonies? (I apologize if someone in Westminster sees this and a has a light bulb moment)

Government advisor says UK farming and ‘fisheries’ not ‘important’
BY LLB REPORTER AT 11:45 AM MARCH 1, 2020

A senior economic government advisor to the chancellor has said the UK does not need its farming or fishing industries.

Dr Tim Leunig is reported to have said the food sector was “not critically important” to the UK’s economy and that agriculture and fisheries “certainly isn’t,” according to a leaked email seen by the Mail on Sunday.

The leaked email said, that ministers could follow the example of Singapore which is “rich without having its own agricultural sector,” Dr Leunig’s email is reported to have said.

The leaked email will most definitely place fears into agriculture and fisheries in the upcoming post Brexit talks.

A British government spokesman said, “We have made clear the comments are not in line with Government policy.”

The hopes of British fishermen that the UK can win its “waters back” after Brexit are expected to be dashed by the European parliament, despite the campaign promises of Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage, a leaked EU document reveals.

MEPs have drafted seven provisions to be included in Britain’s “exit agreement”, including the stipulation that there will be “no increase to the UK’s share of fishing opportunities for jointly fished stocks [maintaining the existing quota distribution in UK and EU waters]”.

The document, obtained by the Guardian, adds that in order for the UK and EU to keep to commitments on sustainable fishing – contained within the United Nations stocks agreement – “it is difficult to see any alternative to the continued application of the common fisheries policy”.

Government advisor says UK farming and ‘fisheries’ not ‘important’
BY LLB REPORTER AT 11:45 AM MARCH 1, 2020

A senior economic government advisor to the chancellor has said the UK does not need its farming or fishing industries.

Dr Tim Leunig is reported to have said the food sector was “not critically important” to the UK’s economy and that agriculture and fisheries “certainly isn’t,” according to a leaked email seen by the Mail on Sunday.

The leaked email said, that ministers could follow the example of Singapore which is “rich without having its own agricultural sector,” Dr Leunig’s email is reported to have said.

The leaked email will most definitely place fears into agriculture and fisheries in the upcoming post Brexit talks.

A British government spokesman said, “We have made clear the comments are not in line with Government policy.”

Michel Barnier has warned that the EU will not conclude a trade deal with the UK "at any price", as ministers signed off on the bloc's negotiating stance in upcoming talks.

The European Union's chief negotiator spoke after a meeting in Brussels of the EU General Affairs Council – made up mainly of European Affairs ministers.

Speaking mainly in French, Barnier described the Political Declaration – agreed as part of the divorce deal between the UK and the EU – as "extremely important". The document provides a framework for the trade negotiations, which are due to get underway in earnest in early March.

Both sides have committed themselves to a "level playing field" over issues including state aid, competition, social and workers' rights, the environment and climate change.

However, there has been concern in EU circles at the British government's determination to diverge from EU rules once the standstill transition period expires at the end of the year. The UK left the EU on January 31.

The EU would insist on "robust governance" of the agreement and "solid guarantees" to ensure that competition was fair, Barnier said. Switching to English, he added that the UK could not have high access to the EU's single market without "robust level playing field safeguards".